A Bill for an Act to establish the National Power Training Institute of Nigeria (NAPTIN) on Tuesday, passed second reading at the House of Representatives.
The bill which was sponsored by Rep. Wale Raji (APC-Lagos) sought to create a legal framework for the operation and administration of the institute.
Leading the debate, Raji said that crux of the bill was to cloth the already existing institute with legal framework.
He said the enactment of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act, 2005 provided the platform for the deregulation of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry from the control, ownership and regulation of the Federal Government to private sector-driven industry.
According to him, the reform basically focuses on accomplishing many goals among which are stability, reliability, sustainability and human capacity development.
“In response to this reform and to address the lingering issues on human capacity development, the NAPTIN was established in March 23, 2009.
“NAPTIN is to provide a structural and standardised training process in order to achieve manpower capacity development in the power sector.
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“With the successful completion of the reform and privatisation programme, NAPTIN along with some newly established institutions in the power sector, assumed the status of a parastatal agency of the federal government under the supervision of the Ministry of Power.
“In view of the above Executive act, it is imperative that the NAPTIN is established by an Act of parliament to empower the institute actualise its mission and goals.
“The creation, establishment, structure, composition, finance and functions of the institute will serve as a focal point for the development and capacity building as well as research center on matters relating to power in Nigeria and Africa at large,” he said.
Raji said that the institute once established, will offer a comprehensive engineering and technical training programmes for professionals, graduate and industrial training undergraduates in the power and other related sectors.
In his ruling, Speaker of the House Femi Gbajabiamila referred the bill to the committee on Power for further legislative actions.